From: Jasper
Date: 1/11/01
Time: 6:12:02 PM
Jolana,
You are correct.
What Celeni said he saw on tape is a physical impossibility no matter how you slice it (that means he lied about seeing the tape). The width of the gate is about four feet across - from a straight-on view - presuming the gate was open all the way and the camera was pointing straight down the center. Celeni said, "Mr. Fuhrman and Nathan Arnold were inside. They then proceeded out of the house. At this point, as they come out the front door, the truck has a dash-mounted video camera. And you can see on the tape (it's in black-and-white; there's no sound), you see her start down the steps. He's standing behind her, holding his arm around her."
Looking into the yard from the street where the truck was supposed to be you run into two problems. 1) The foliage in front of the fence on both sides of the gate is so thick that there is no way any camera I know of could take a picture of the scene Celeni described. 2) It is highly improbable that a video camera mounted where he said it was, would have been pointing down the center of the walkway at the center of the gate.
The idea of having an on-the-scene observer in a truck that close to the condo would have been for him to see what was happening in real time. That means the passenger side window directly across from him is what he would have aligned with the centerline of the driveway to see through the open gate) Two feet forward or back from that centerline would have created an angle that would have blocked his view completely. A "dash-mounted video camera" would have been at least two feet ahead that imaginary centerline. Assuming it could be swiveled to point in the right direction, the effect would be same as with the observer driving two feet ahead. Bottom line: If the observe is in a position to see the opening, the camera can't be. If the camera is in that position, the driver can't be. --Jasper